Parents and Legal Guardians
Are you a parent or legal guardian to a young person aged 14 to 18 years, and would you support us trialling 'U-PIC' in your child's therapy sessions to further our understanding of young people's preferences in therapy?
Will using U-PIC help or hinder my child's therapy?
​Research finds choosing preferences in therapy generally helps therapy outcomes*.
It is quite right that you question whether testing U-PIC will affect your child's therapy progress. This study has been passed by the University of Roehampton's Ethics Committee to ensure it maintains the high standard in ethical procedures in working in research with young people.
​​​​​​*Reference: Using patient preferences to customise therapy - University of Roehampton Research Explorer
Why must U-PIC be tested?
There aren't many studies which look at what young people think about choosing preferences in therapy. It's really important we understand how young people experience choosing preferences in therapy, to know what may help or hinder their therapy sessions, what young people like and dislike, and future directions to take as researchers in helping young people in therapy.​
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For example, perhaps young people feel empowered by choosing preferences in therapy. Perhaps they can learn skills and self-knowledge about what they want in therapy, and how it feels to ask for their preferences.
How will my child test U-PIC?
U-PIC is a set of 12 questions with one open-ended question. Your child's therapist or counsellor fill out U-PIC twice, about four weeks apart. After each use, I will interview your child to see how they experienced using U-PIC. I am a trained therapist and therapist to young people.
What questions does U-PIC ask?
U-PIC asks whether your child or guard would like to draw in their sessions, or whether they or the therapist will set goals, and how much they want the therapist to do this, or how little. Perhaps they want to collaborate in setting goals, or whether they don't know, and that's okay, too. U-PIC asks whether the young person would like to take a lead in therapy, and how much, or how much they would prefer the therapist to direct what they talk about.
What about privacy?
Your names and contact details will be securely stored on the University of Roehampton's secure data storage facilities and I will delete them as quickly as possible. Any personal information your child may say in the interviews will be deleted, so that no-one will know your child's identity. The audio recordings will be non-identifiable and will be safely stored. All data security is regulated and is strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018).
Next steps...
Please scan the QR code below, or click on the link, and fill in your contact details. I will contact you so that we can talk further about the study. Thank you very much for taking the time to read about this study.
